Flawless
by nerdyninjaunicorn
Summary: Each year, his perception of her changes slightly. Nothing dramatic, but there's usually a subtle change in the way he regards her, looks at her. But without fail, she does everything flawlessly.


Each year, his perception of her changes slightly. Nothing dramatic, but there's usually a subtle change in the way he regards her, looks at her.

But without fail, she does everything _flawlessly._

:

It's first year, and Ronald Weasley will never forget the way she looks. Sitting up tall, confidently. Her hair is a mess, and she has bucked teeth, but her clothes are perfect. There's no trace of a wrinkle on her skirt, no lint to be found on her uniform, and she sitting with the greatest posture, eyes focused intently on Flitwick as he instructs them.

It's driving him insane. She hasn't done a single thing _wrong _and of course he has to sit directly beside her, and it's _so unfair. _

To make matters worse, she takes it upon herself to correct him as he attempts to levitate a feather. She humiliates him, chastises him, belittles him, tells him he'll poke someone's eye out, and to pronounce the _gar _nice and long.

He tells her that if _she _knows how to do it, she might as well prove it.

And, without fail, she does. She pronounces the spell perfectly with ease, as if she's spent years working in it, and little feather that had been directly in front of her on the desk is soaring into the air, over his head. Flitwick congratulates her, and she smiles contentedly, watching her feather float about in the air, her brown orbs following it with ease.

For a split second, Ronald is torn. A part of him wants to hastily congratulate the Muggle-Born girl beside, whereas a more sinister part of him want to hate her for showing him up after she embarrassed him.

After class, as a passing comment, he says to the other Gryffindor boys after complaining about her: "No wonder she doesn't have any friends."

Much to his horror, she pushes past him, carrying a load of books, and those same eyes that were just following the feather in the air are now brimming with tears

"I think she heard you," Harry's voice says, but to Ron, it sounds as though he is miles away as he watches the crying girl.

* * *

><p>He can honestly say that thus far in his eleven years of life, he's never been more disgusted with himself. He made some poor girl <em>cry <em>for Merlin's sake. He is ashamed.

Before dinner in the Great Hall, he's made up his mind to apologize to her, but she doesn't show. Neville says that he heard some girls say she was in the bathroom and wanted to be alone, which makes him feel even worse. He tries to devour as much food as he can, fo bury the gnawing feeling of shame in his stomach.

Quirrel has rushed into the Great Hall. There's a troll on the loose. In the school.

Of course, everyone is seeing to it that the students are escorted to the dorms, but Harry comes to a realization: she doesn't know.

Instantly, he is rushing to the girl's bathroom with Harry and...the troll is in the bathroom with her.

Harry assumes the role of the hero, jumping upon the troll and trying to distract him, sticking his wand up the troll's nose, while she escapes the stall and starts shouting at him to grab his wand, and he, Ronald Weasley, manages to knock out the mountain troll.

The teachers have ran in, and are about to expel him, he's sure of it, when she speaks up. And she _lies _to the teachers. The rule abiding bookworm is lying effortlessly for Harry and him, even after what he's done to her, and she's doing it so _flawlessly _that the teachers buy her ridiculous story, and from that point on, Ron Weasley wholeheartedly sees Hermione Granger as a friend.

* * *

><p>It's his second year now, and she's more than just a friend to him now, she's one of his best friend's. He finds himself doing absolutely insane things for her, like using his broken, damaged wand to cast a hex on that bloody git Malfoy after he called her a Mudblood, and finds himself belching up slugs.<p>

While she can't reverse it, she helps him up gently, and she and Harry escort him to Hagrid's, which he finds himself so grateful for.

* * *

><p>The Quiditch match is canceled. Two more victims.<p>

And one of then is that perfect girl.

She's lying on the cot, frozen, her brown eyes wide open, her arms stiff. He visits her every day, letting her know what she missed in Transfiguration, or what awful things Snape is doing in Potions, and he always tells her that he misses her.

Later, he finds out, she had piece of paper in her hand all that time, with information on the monster within the Chamber of Secrets, travelling through the pipes in school. It's so brilliant, something only Hermione could do without a trace of effort on her part ever so _flawlessly._

* * *

><p>All year, she's been acting strange.<p>

Classes scheduled at the same time as other, tired all the time, her mind not quite there. She's more distant than she's ever been in three years.

So it shouldn't really be such a surprise to Ron Weasley when Malfoy opens his enormous trap to badmouth Hagrid and Buckbeak that Hermione slaps him across the face. She does it swiftly with no second thought, leaving a red mark across the git's face as she flings insults his way, calling him a foul cockroach, and he can't help but admire the new side of this girl. She does something so uncharacteristic so _flawlessly._

* * *

><p>He finds out the reason for her irregular behavior later on; a Time Turner. She's been using a bloody Time Turner all year just to take more classes. Ron almost can't help but laugh because that is such a Hermione thing to do, but he's also in awe. How on Earth, for nearly an entire year, did she <em>flawlessly <em>manage to keep a secret as huge as that from both of her friends? He sees her now as almost an enigma, something that once seemed so steady and constant now with a different, slightly darker side.

* * *

><p>He is more furious than he's ever been in fourteen years of life. Harry. Who was supposed to be his best friend, has betrayed him. He's sneaked his <em>goddamn <em>name into the bloody Goblet of fucking Fire. Granted, Ron never felt obligated that Harry had to tell him every single detail of his life like girls do, but he figured that Harry should at least tell him something as important as that.

Since he's all but decided to burn bridges with the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Betray-His-Best-Friend-Who's-Done-Nothing-But-Help-And-Support-Him, he spends more time with Hermione. Oddly enough, last year, when he had fought with her over that stupid cat who'd killed his rat (when, in actuality, that stupid cat had actually exposed that his rat was traitor and was indeed Peter Pettigrew-gross), he'd always felt as though certain element was lacking. But now, with only Hermione, he feels just fine. It just feels...right.

She's becoming more and more irritated with him, urging him to just go and _talk _to Harry. She tells him he's being juvenile and jealous, Harry wouldn't keep something like that from him, and you _know _it, Ronald...

He's already bought one of the "Potter Sucks" badges. She rolls her eyes when she sees him wearing it and scolds him before loudly flipping open her precious _Hogwarts; A History._

She's his best friend, but sometimes she acts like his bloody _mother. _

* * *

><p>He can't believe it. That girl who's arm-in-arm with Viktor Krum is <em>not her. <em>It can't be her.

This girl is so much more different than her. Her hair is in an elegant up-do. Her dress robes were luxurious, the smile on her face was enchanting.

This girl did not have her buck teeth or a stack of books. She didn't have her bushy hair or a quill in her right hand. This couldn't be her.

And yet this girl (who is, he'll wholeheartedly admit, beautiful) walks over to the boys, who've been long since abandoned by their dates. She tells them about just how _fascinating _it is, talking to someone from another school, about how _interesting _dear Vicky is, and _Ron. Can't. Stand. It._

And so Ron and Hermione do what they do best; they bicker.

He accuses her of fraternizing with the enemy, she calls him an idiot, but in the back of his mind, Ron can't help but notice just how _flawlessly _disguised herself by wearing fancy dress robes and doing her hair, it's almost as if he can't recognize her unless she's screaming at him. It's almost as if the mask that has been hiding the real Hermione Granger has fallen off and now he can finally see her.

Later on, they argue in the common room and she tells him, nostrils flaring "Next time, ask me before someone else does, not as a last resort!" before she angrily stomps up the stairs.

She storms away, and Ron feels a jab in his heart. Of course. Why on Earth would such a _beautiful _girl like Hermione Granger want to go to the ball with boy who is wearing moth-eaten dress robes that smell strongly of his great aunt and doesn't even seem to realize that she is, in fact, a girl until their fourth year?

* * *

><p>They spend the summer at the Order. He can tell she feels guilty about not telling Harry about where they are, and he doesn't blame her, he does too. As much as he can't wait to see Harry, there's a small part of him that wishes that the two of them could do things like this all the time.<p>

He goes to see her, and she's writing a letter to Harry. It isn't a very long letter, but Ron observes all the letters. He loves the way she writes her r's and h's. She neatly folds the letter after the ink has dried, and sends the letter off with Pig. She has folded it evenly into thirds _flawlessly._ She watches as the owl takes flight into the sky.

* * *

><p>It's Christmas time and his palms are sweating profusely. He picked this up for her a while ago in Hogsmeade. It's sort of cheap, but it was the most expensive one he could buy and he's hoping, praying, that she'll like the perfume.<p>

He gives it to her before she goes off skiing (he doesn't think he'll ever understand Muggles, going down snowy hills with pieces of wood strapped to their feet; it's ludicrous), and she blushes and thanks him gratefully.

She gives him a homework planner. Typical Hermione.

* * *

><p>Galleons.<p>

Enchanted Galleons.

It's brilliant and wonderful and creative and it came from the mind of Hermione Granger. She explains to group about how, to signal a meeting or something of that sort, the Galleon will grow warm, all the more proving that she is a bloody genius.

It's foolproof, really. It's _flawless._

* * *

><p>Sixth year. It's before the first game. Ron doesn't know if he'll be able to handle it; his nerves are going haywire just thinking about getting on that broom.<p>

He can't eat. His friends try and encourage him, try and boost his ego when suddenly, she is shrieking at Harry, saying about him spiking Ron's pumpkin juice. Harry plays innocent, but...could he have put the Felix Felicis in it?

Ron tells her to stop screaming at Harry, but he's secretly pleased. Felix Felicis.

Still, it is...touching that she is as worried as she is.

* * *

><p>They've won. Gryffindor has won the game.<p>

Ron has the idea to go thank Harry, but suddenly, Lavender Brown appears. "Great game, Ron," she said, twisting a piece of hair with her index finger.

"Thanks, Lavender," he says, searching for Harry. He catches a glimpse of Hermione, who appears to be heading his way now...which he doesn't need. She's been rattling on all day about how "_Harry's spiked your pumpkin juice with Felix Felicis!" _As if he couldn't block a goal on his own.

He feels a small pang of guilt in his stomach as he recalls how he mocked her. Maybe it's just because he's been so irritable about her kissing Krum. Stupid fucking Krum.

Without warning, suddenly Lavender is kissing him. He flashes back to his argument with Ginny not that long ago, and mentally cheers. Besides, who would have thought that a _girl _would want to kiss Ron Weasley?

Once he looks around the room, he notices she's gone. Harry is leaving now, probably to follow her. A surge of jealousy surges through him, just like last year when she told Harry "of course he wasn't a bad kisser."

He kisses Lavender again, and he now notices how the crowd is going wild. In the back of his mind, he wonders where his friends are. So he tells Lavender that they "might as well find some place a little more private" and he drags her into the hallway, searching for wherever they could be when he spots a classroom door slightly ajar, and strides towards it with Lavender right behind.

He opens the door, as if he's stumbled upon by it by happenstance. She sitting on a desk, rather glum, watching yellow canaries spin about in a circle, singing a little song. It superb, really. Harry is sitting beside her, looking startled as he faces the door.

"Oh," he says loudly, a bit too optimistically.

"Oops!" Lavender begins giggling deleriously. She then swiftly closed the door, leaving him in the room with Hermione and Harry.

He doesn't look at Hermione. Forces himself not to. _She kissed Krum, after all, and she didn't think I could make those goals._

"Hi, Harry! Wondered where you'd got off to!" Ron says brightly, but feeling incredibly awkward.

Suddenly, out of his eye, Hermione stands up, and the birds that circle her head make it seem as if she's wearing a crown. "You shouldn't leave Lavender outside," she states harshly. "She'll wonder where you've gone." She walks stiffly towards the door, and he can tell that she has a million thoughts running through her brilliant mind of hers.

Much to Ron's horror, he hears he shriek "_Oppungo!" _before slamming the door shut, as her flock of canaries begin to attack him, stabbing him angrily with their sharp, pointed daggers for beaks, and now he doesn't feel nearly as bad as he did before.

Sometimes, he can hardly stand her.

* * *

><p>His mind is foggy. He can't recall a thing. Merlin, his head hurts. He hears...voices.<p>

"So all in all, not one of Ron's better birthdays?" He hears a voice say, and he can, even without opening his eyes, that it is one of the twins, although he can't tell which one it is. It's confusing to think...

Everything blurs together. He doesn't dare open his eyes; he doesn't want to be blinded by the light of day and bombarded by a room full of people.

But then he notices that his hand is being held by another, smaller hand. There is somebody sitting beside him. Logic says Lavender, but instinct is telling him that it is Hermione. As almost a form of verification, he murmurs "Her...my...nee?"

At once, the room is silent. Ron thinks he hears a sort of wailing noise, but he decides to rest once more. After all, it can't be anything too important, can it?

* * *

><p>He knew this day was coming sooner or later, but he certainly didn't think (or maybe he was hoping wishfully) that it would be tonight of all nights. The night Bill and Fleur's wedding. Just minutes ago, Ron had been dancing with Hermione (who had looked gorgeous in her robes if he'd say so himself), and now he's on the run and on a mission to save the world.<p>

It's then he realizes that he'd be absolutely lost without Hermione Granger. She has taken time to pack everything for the three of them, and has _flawlessly _managed a spell to fit it into her small bag. If it weren't for her, he and Harry would probably be dead by now.

* * *

><p>He is drenched, freezing, cold, and delighted. She's here.<p>

Of course, she isn't very happy with him. Ron has seem her mad before, but even meters away, he can see that her eyes are ablaze with fury. And then, she speaks; very slowly and deathly quiet. "You're complete _arse, _Ronald Weasley!" She's yelling now, and advancing towards him, probably to smack him in the arm. But he knows he deserves it, even as Harry makes his protests.

He _was _an arse. He can still hear the echos of her screams, her voice insisting that he come back...

And then, only days ago, he heard her voice. Saying _his _name. Just his name.

Then, all the insecurities he felt before he left are thrown in his face when he went to defeat that _damn _Horcrux. His best friend and the girl he loves...kissing. Saying the worst things imaginable, confirming his worst fears. And then something snaps and he stabs it, silencing once and for all.

He's just happy to be here with the people he loves the most.

* * *

><p>"We don't want any more Dobbies," Ron finds himself saying, looking at his friends for confirmation.<p>

In seconds, Hermione has cast the Basalisk fang to the ground and jumps towards him, kissing him fiercely, and finally Ronald Weasley's life is complete. It is utterly indescribable, the emotions he's feeling right now. Everything about this completely and positively _flawless, _and it makes so much sense. He hears Harry's voice, but it seems as if it is miles away "Oi, we're in the middle of a war."

As he and Hermione break apart, he says "Well, it's now or never, isn't it?"

* * *

><p>To say is that Ron was nervous was a great under-exaggeration. He was <em>terrified. <em>

_What if she says no? What if she runs off? What if bloody Krum stands up and interjects? What if I accidentally say no? What if get sick? What if I get sick all over _her? _Oh, Merlin._

"Ron?" It's Harry. Oh, no, it's Harry.

"She's left me, hasn't she? She's left!" Ron's voice rises higher and higher.

"No, no, not at all," Harry says, seeming perturbed "It's time for you to get to the front of the alter, mate."

"Oh." Ron is quiet. "Yeah, I guess I should, y'know," he says as he shuffles to the door.

"Ron?"

"Yeah?"

"I know you're nervous, but there's really no need. Hermione is going through this wedding no matter what. She loves you."

Ron merely nods, as more of an acknowledgement more than understanding. He takes a deep breath before walking out.

He's finally managed to make it to the front, feeling more terrified than ever. And now as he stands there, he hears the traditional music signifying that the bride is walking down the aisle. He turns to see Ginny, Fleur and Audrey, but the most beautiful one of all is the girl at the end of the procession, arm-in-arm with her father, with a long ivory dress. She's looking down, gripping her bouquet of flowers tightly. Suddenly, she looks up and locks eyes with him, offering a small, serene smile, and instantly every worry from Ron Weasley's mind is out of mind and the churning in his stomach has stopped.

In this moment, she is _flawless._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I've had this sitting around for a little while, and I _finally_ got around to finishing it. I certainly hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, feel free to review! **


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